Any discussion about GNOME vs. KDE is sure to end in tears. It's basically impossible to discuss which of these two Free desktop environments is better than the other, mostly because they cater to different types of people, with different needs and expectatotions. As such, Bruce Byfield decided to look at the two platforms from a different perspective: if we consider their developmental processes, which of the two is most likely to be more successful in the coming years?

But hopefully, they'll keep Mono out of the loop. Focus on beefing up C++ support, take good care of Python support ecosystem, play with Vala and Javascript, consider making Qt a first class Gnome development framework. Just treat that big wooden horse delivery from microsoft at the door with the respect & caution it deserves.

This is a good direction for GNOME. C++ rather than C, good integration with Python, Javascript etc, and ditch Mono.

Unfortunately, all of that is a quite good description of KDE4, and the opposite of what is happening with GNOME.